Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has said that launch of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has injected a new energy into Pakistan’s national development.

“In the future, the corridor will receive wide support from all sectors of Pakistani society. The construction of the corridor continues to advance,” he said in an exclusive interview with a Chinese language newspaper Guangming Daily published on Monday.

Imran Khan affirmed his strong support to the CPEC for Pakistan’s economic and social development. “With pragmatic cooperation and joint efforts of the people of Pakistan and China, the corridor project has brought about many positive changes to multiple areas of Pakistan’s economy and society for last five years. The changes prove that the corridor has a positive effect on the development of Pakistan. I believe that the corridor construction in the medium and long term will be firmly guaranteed and will continue to be implemented,” he added.

“Especially in the field of employment, the corridor construction has played an irreplaceable role,” Imran said. “A large number of Pakistani educated youth are directly involved in the construction and operation of various projects under the corridor framework. The development projects have brought a lot of valuable employment opportunities to the people of Pakistan,” he added.

Imran said that the PTI has long been concerned and committed to solving the employment issue of the people of Pakistan. He hoped the CPEC will provide required resources and platforms in this regard.

He said the corridor has also helped Pakistan improve country’s investment and business environment. “The corridor has created an ideal platform and opportunity for Pakistan to attract foreign investment. At present, China is Pakistan’s largest investor and has injected inexhaustible momentum into Pakistan’s economic development. In future, more and more countries from within and outside the region will be eager to invest and do business in Pakistan. Pakistan is expected to become a transshipment hub and interconnection center in the region,” he said.

Imran Khan said Pakistan has a unique geographical advantage in the geopolitical position, and the large population size also provides a rich labor reserve for the country’s development. “Pakistan will embark on a path of sustainable development, and the pragmatic cooperation between two countries in the areas of clean energy and green agriculture will boost this process,” he said.

Imran Khan said that industrial cooperation is the most important part of the medium- and long-term planning of the CPEC. The construction of various industrial parks in Pakistan and China will become the most promising areas in the future, he believed.

Imran believed that on the basis of the historical friendship between Pakistan and China, the future cooperation between the two countries will be stable and far-reaching, and Pakistan’s ‘golden opportunity period’ will continue.

Published in Daily Times, July 24^th 2018.